First No 21, Now Brioni: Alessandro Dell’Acqua Makes a Comeback in Milan

A few years ago, Alessandro Dell’Acqua disbanded his own label, and also left his post as creative director of La Perla. More than twelve months ago, he reemerged with a new label, No. 21 (named for the day he was born); he showed his third collection last Wednesday, while this past Sunday saw his sophomore outing for Brioni, a name hitherto better known for suiting, quite literally, titans of industry. This in itself seems to be distinctly lacking in any news; after all, he is the kind of Milanese industry stalwart who would be expected to resurface at some point in time. Except…who’d have thought that his quiet return could signal that he’s reenergized himself as a designer, offering up the kind of clothes—eroticized chic at No. 21, spare elegance for Brioni—that would be quite so good? Dell’Acqua has tapped into a refinement and finesse that was somewhat missing before, when he seemed to be happier with industrially produced high fashion than pieces with an artisanal, personal charm. For fall, from No. 21, there are some wonderful flecked ecru and black sweaters and cardigans which are backed with a heavy black lace, or a pale primrose lace dress with corset contouring, or a copper-gold sparkling metallic sweater (the knit look of the season) over a yellow shirt and black crop pants, the latter somehow conspiring to be all the contradictions—boy/girl, minimal/maximal, glam/low-key—that seem so right, right now. And at Brioni, in the collection’s best moments, he’s downplaying the haute bourgeois associations with injections of hot pink to contrast classic camel, and has come up with some pretty great variations on the winter lace trend that was all over Milan.